Fluorinated vinyl ethers are known as raw materials that may be copolymerized with other fluorinated monomers to produce industrially useful polymeric materials. For example, fluorinated vinyl ethers can be copolymerized with other monomers to form materials such as PFA (a copolymer with tetrafluoroethylene), perfluorinated rubber materials, and modified PTFE.
Various examples of methods for fluorinated vinyl ether synthesis are available. These methods include reacting a 2-alkoxypropionyl fluoride in a stationary bed of a metal carbonate, a tubular reactor filled with dried metal carbonate and equipped with a screw blade running through the tube, and a fluidized bed of metal carbonate. Furthermore, available methods include a two-step process wherein the reactants are mixed below the decomposition temperature of an intermediate and in a second step, the temperature is raised to yield a fluorinated vinyl ether. This two step slow heating process may also be carried out in the presence of a solvent and/or a catalytic amount of N,N-dimethylformamide. Solvent based methods are widely used, despite their tendency to yield a larger proportion of unwanted side products (e.g., the HF adduct of the fluorinated vinyl ether) than comparable solvent free methods.
Other methods have utilized 3-substituted 2-alkoxypropionyl fluorides (wherein the substituents in the 3-position include Cl, Br or I). These are decarboxylated to yield the vinyl ether in preference over the five or six membered ring products (which are favored when the 2-alkoxypropionyl fluorides are perfluorinated in the 3-position). These reactions are generally carried out in tetraglyme as a reaction solvent.
Further examples have dispatched with the use of metal carbonates and instead react siloxanes with 2-alkoxypropionyl fluorides or carboxylic anhydrides to yield fluorovinyl ethers.